THANET DISTRICT COUNCIL PEER REVIEW

Thanet District Council has taken part in a voluntary Peer Review this week (11 – 13 March) as part of its commitment to improve.

A team of peers from other local authorities and the Local Government Association were invited by the council to review how it operates and to provide suggestions for ways to improve.

As part of the review there was a particular focus on Economic Development and the council’s customer services approach, as these are priority areas for the council.

More than 100 Councillors, council staff and external stakeholders, which included community groups, private companies, partner organisations and local press, took part in focus group sessions with the review team.

The council received a verbal summary of the initial findings at a short presentation today (Thursday 13 March) and will receive a detailed report from the review team within the next month. The report will be published on the council’s website.

Council Leader, Cllr Clive Hart, said: “We welcome the initial findings of the review which highlight that the council is heading in the right direction, with improvement achieved in a number of areas.

“We recognise that there is more improvement to be made and will be actively responding to the feedback we receive.

“I would like to thank the Peer Review Team for their time this week and for their insight and suggestions and to everyone who contributed to this process".

The Peer Review team for Thanet included:

• Pete Rentell, Programme Manager – Local Government Support,  LGA
• Matt Nicholls, Head of News and Internal Comms, LGA
• Cllr Helen Holland, Leader of the Labour Group, Bristol City Council
• Cllr Terry Hone, Deputy Leader and Finance Portfolio Holder, North Herts District Council and Deputy Executive Member for Resources and Economic Wellbeing at Herts County Council
• Andrew Muter, Chief Executive, Newark and Sherwood District Council
• Graham Cook, Deputy Chief Executive, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council

Since 2011, nearly a third of local authorities (105) have undergone a Peer Review. This is expected to rise to more than 180 councils by the end of 2014.

ENDS 

THANET DISTRICT COUNCIL